RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Lee County >> Leona Mines >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Leona Mines, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Leona Mines and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Leona Mines:
    • 36.838423, -83.024055
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Leona Mines
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Lee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
    • Since Leona Mines is near Harlan County and also Wise County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harlan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wise County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Leona Mines

Curious and Interesting Names Near Leona Mines ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Bonny Blue
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Bonny Blue is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonny Blue
  • Buckles ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Buckles is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckles
  • Dominion
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dominion is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominion
  • Georgetown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Georgetown is located in Harlan County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
  • Imperial ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Imperial is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Imperial
  • Lee ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Lee is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee
  • Mayflower
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Mayflower is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayflower
  • Monarch
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Monarch is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monarch
  • Pocket
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Pocket is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pocket
  • Robbins ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Robbins is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robbins
  • Shepherd Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Shepherd Hill is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shepherd Hill
  • Stone Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Stone Creek is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Creek

How Far From Leona Mines to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Leona Mines to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Leona Mines once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Leona Mines and extending to:

  • Jonesville, which is the Seat of Lee County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Leona Mines to Jonesville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 311 miles [500.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 355 miles [571.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,239 miles [10,040.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,951 miles [11,186.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,827 miles [7,768.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Leona Mines, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Leona Mines) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Leona Mines to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Leona Mines. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8384, Longitude: -83.0241       In this case, the coordinates for Leona Mines have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.514 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.268 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.916 degrees.